Transforming 'plans' into 'action'

Speech by Shanthi Fernando, Board member RADA on June 12, 2006 at District Livelihood programme in Hambantota district.

SPEECH: It is my pleasure, and my privilege, to participate at the launching of the Livelihood Development Plans of the four tsunami affected DS divisions of the Hambantota District.

The Reconstruction and Development Agency, or RADA as our institution is called, came into being after the formation of the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government.

Its formation flowed out of the Policy Statement made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa when he opened the new session of parliament on November 25, 2005, soon after he was elected as the President of our country.

He stated as follows. (quote): "A new tsunami Reconstruction Administrative Infrastructure, that will coordinate with the central government, provincial councils, pradeshiya sabhas, political parties and voluntary organisations, will be introduced in place of the controversial P-TOMS which is now before the courts". (unquote)

Prior to the formation of RADA, the facilitation of post-tsunami reconstruction activity on the one side, and even actual decision-making with regard to ground level activities to a significant extent, was the responsibility of several centralised agencies.

A structural change in post-tsunami reconstruction and development work followed the advent of the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government. All decision-making with regard to ground level activities and the actual implementation of these activities in tsunami affected districts and villages were devolved by him to the district and divisional levels.

Only the functions of facilitation and coordination were retained at a central level.

As a part of the structural transformation of post-tsunami reconstruction activity, President Rajapaksa instituted one single agency for facilitation and coordination, - RADA, - in place of the several agencies that existed earlier.

RADA, let us be clear, does not directly implement any activities on the ground. The President is very clear that the ground level implementation of all post-tsunami reconstruction and recovery programmes will be the function and responsibility of the district administration and not of any other institution or agency.

RADA's role, as I said before, is one of facilitation and coordination. To maximise its efficiency and effectiveness, RADA has established four divisions through which it executes its responsibilities. One division facilitates housing construction.

Another division facilitates Infrastructure Reconstruction. Yet another division is responsible for facilitating the re-establishing of necessary health and education services and facilities. And finally, we have a division responsible for facilitating and coordinating the restoring of Livelihoods in the tsunami affected districts.

Today's activity is a function of the Division that facilitates the restoration of Livelihoods.

I am very happy to participate in today's important event, where Divisional Livelihood Development Plans are being launched in the four tsunami affected DS divisions of Tangalla, Ambalantota, Hambantota and Tissamaharama, in the Hambantota District.

These plans, like the recently launched pilot livelihood Development Plan of the Habaraduwa DS Division of the Galle District - we are proud to say, - have come 'up' from the grass roots with the participation of the affected communities.

These are not plans that are being foisted 'down' on the affected communities by some centralised agency or institution.

We congratulate the officers of the district administration for crafting this 'bottom up' process with skill and commitment.

The Plans we launch today, have been crafted through the participation of all the relevant district and divisional level stakeholders. Now again we all get together - communities, government officers, professionals, donors, NGOs, INGOs, the Corporate Sector including the Chambers of Commerce, banks and facilitators like ourselves, - to supplement and complement each other in transforming the 'Plans' into 'Action'.

I do admit that while this process may mark a new departure from traditional practice where most districts are concerned, it is in fact the continuance, - in a more formalised way, perhaps, - of the process that then Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, launched and followed in the Hambantota District in the post-tsunami period.

Having been actively associated with post-tsunami reconstruction and development work in the Hambantota District throughout that period, I was a proud witness to that reality and benefited enormously from its experience.

All of us present here today, come from different institutions, from several different professions and vocations, and from different fields of experience. Despite these diversities, we have committed ourselves to share responsibilities, pool our skills and resources, join hands and complement each other to restore the livelihoods of the tsunami affected communities and families of the Hambantota District.

This process, which is very much in the spirit of the 'Mahinda Chintanaya', may be professional at one level, humanitarian at another, and deeply 'religious' or spiritual at yet another level.